Jabra has been about consistency and reliability and the new Elite 5 is no exception. These sound cans come with enough features to help during office hours, during commutes, in the gym or while listening to music for a couple of hours. In the review, let’s look at what Elite 5 has to offer and how it stacks up against Elite 4 Active and Elite 7 Pro.
No-nonsense design
In terms of design of the charging case, there is nothing new to report. It maintains the design of the Elite 3 and Elite 4 Active. Still very slim, compact and there is an LED indicator on the front to gauge battery life. At the back, you will find a Type-C charging port, which I will hardly use because the case supports wireless charging.
The earbuds too share the design with its predecessor but they’re noticeably smaller, which helps in terms of fit. The sound cans come with wearing sensors, so the music is automatically paused when you take out one of the earbuds from the ear, thereby saving battery as well as allowing you to return to the point where you stopped a track. A few other noticeable features — these are running Bluetooth 5.2 and they do have Google Fast Pair, so if you’re on an Android device, it’s automatically going to recognise the earbuds, making the pairing process easy. It also supports Microsoft Swift Pair. Another feature I appreciate is single usage mode, that is, if you prefer to listen to music on one earbud while the other stays in the charging case, Elite 5 has you covered. The earbuds come with eartips, which means they definitely stay in place during jogging and these offer a good seal.
It helps to have customisable EQ
Highly customisable
All the winning features are in the sound department. In terms of codec, there’s everything you need — SBC, AAC as well as Qualcomm’s aptX Audio, so you’ve got good compatibility with iOS as well as Android devices. But I like to move between the laptop and the phone all the time. No sweat: With Bluetooth Multipoint you can connect to two devices at the same time. Equally impressive is the IP55 rating for dust and water resistance. So, give it a try while in the gym — sweat shouldn’t bother the earbuds.
Let’s get over with battery life before delving deeper into sound. The earbuds have enough juice if you charge it up fully. You are looking at up to seven hours of battery life with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) turned on or up to 28 hours in the case, and with ANC turned off, you will get nine hours on the earbuds while 36 hours with the case. Those are pretty impressive figures.
Jabra has always made very dynamic-sounding earbuds and that hasn’t changed with the Elite 5. A lot of it has to do with the equaliser within the Jabra Sound+ app. There are six different EQ presets to choose from as well as the option to customise and create your own and these definitely have a tremendous amount of range in terms of treble and clarity. If you prefer a lot of clarity and detail, these can certainly deliver that. They also offer a satisfying amount of bass; we are not talking about overpowering bass… it’s about enough for a party inside the ear canals.
Take the case of John Cale’s album Mercy, which unsettles listeners as he ponders over important matters, like the retreat of the polar ice sheets. Moving on to Rush! by Maneskin, the funk-rock vibes are not lost. And on Sam Smith’s Gloria, the slow jams No God and Six Shots have a lot of depth.
Jabra doesn’t stop there. There is ANC as well as Hear Through modes, both of which are customisable, that is, there are levels to it. When it comes to ANC, it tackles lowerfrequency sounds very well but I still prefer the ANC on AirPods. On the other hand, Jabra has done an excellent job on the transparency mode or Hear Through. On both modes, you can dial in exactly how much ambient noise you want to hear or leave out.
The earbuds are light and offer good battery support
Keep the calls coming
Where Jabra wins big points is with phone calls. It’s one of the most comfortable and responsive earbuds to have for someone who has to take plenty of calls through the day. Just like you’re able to customise media controls, you can also customise controls for incoming as well as active calls, like putting your earbuds on mute or even placing a caller on hold with just the touch of a button. Thanks to the wearing sensors you can even set the earbuds to automatically answer phone calls whenever they’re in your ear.
And the winning feature — Side Tone. It allows you to hear yourself whenever you’re on a call. If your voice is a little low you’ll know about it and speak louder or if your voice is a little loud, you’ll speak softer. Another useful feature within the app is Spotify Tap. With this you can launch Spotify with the touch of a button.
Should you buy it?
What exactly separates the Elite 5 from the Elite 4 Active and the Elite 7 Pro? With the Elite 4 Active you’re missing out on wireless charging, multi-point connection and adjustable noise cancellation. And there’s no in-ear detection. The Elite 7 Pro has IP57 dust and water resistance rating compared to the IP55 on the Elite 5. And there are a few extra features in the call department. The Jabra Elite 5 comes with just the right amount of features for the given pricing. Sure, I may ask for some more bass, maybe slight improvements in the ear tips but that would be like looking for needle-in the-haystack kind of excuses. Jabra Elite 5 is simply a reliable pair of sound cans that are durable.
At a glance
Here’s how the Jabra Sound+ app looks like
Device: Jabra Elite 5
Price: 14,999
HIGH NOTES
- Customisable ANC as well as transparency levels
- Excellent app support
- Snug fit
- Several options in the call department
- Customisable EQ
MUFFLED NOTE
- Slight improvement in the bass department will help